New kitten: what to feed in the first months

A new kitten arrives with a surprising amount of luggage for something that weighs a kilo: a basket, a scratching post, three toys it will ignore, and very firm opinions about food. Here is what to put in the bowl during the first months, and what to leave out.

Day one: keep the same food

Before your kitten comes home, ask the breeder or shelter exactly what it has been eating: brand, recipe, wet or dry, and how many meals a day. Buy a small amount of the same food.

Moving house is a big event for a kitten. New smells, new people, no littermates. Changing its food on the same day adds one more upheaval, and the stomach is usually the first to complain. Keep everything identical for the first week, then change slowly if you want to.

Why kittens eat differently

A kitten grows fast. In its first year it goes from a few hundred grams to its adult weight, and most of that growth happens in the first six months. To build muscle, bones and organs, a kitten needs more energy and more protein per kilo of body weight than an adult cat, plus the right balance of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.

That is why kitten food exists, and why it is worth using. Adult food is not dangerous, but it is not designed for a growing body. Look for food labelled "complete" and "for kittens" or "for all life stages": it means the recipe covers everything a kitten needs on its own.

How many meals a day?

A kitten's stomach is small, so little and often works best:

• Up to about 4 months: four meals a day.
• 4 to 6 months: three meals a day.
• From 6 months: two or three meals a day.

Many owners leave kibble available during the day for young kittens and add one or two wet meals. That works well as long as you measure the daily amount and do not refill the bowl every time it looks empty. A kitten that grows is good; a kitten that grows sideways is less so.

For quantities, follow the feeding table on the food, and adjust to your kitten's weight and shape. Weigh your kitten every couple of weeks: steady gain is what you want to see.

Wet, dry, or both?

Both have a place.

• Dry kitten food is complete, practical, and easy to measure. Our kitten kibble is made with chicken and turkey, in a smaller kibble size for small mouths.
• Wet food brings water and flavour, which helps if your kitten drinks little (most cats do; we wrote about it in Cats and water: why wet food matters).

A practical routine: kitten kibble as the base, and a wet meal or a fillet on top once a day. Our fillets are labelled for all life stages, so they are fine for kittens, as a treat or a topper rather than the whole diet.

Kittenhood is also the best time to get your cat used to different textures and proteins. A cat that has tasted chicken, fish and mixes when young is often less fussy later. Our Discovery set, with ten different recipes, is an easy way to do that.

Changing food without upsetting the stomach

When you do switch, take about a week:

1. Days 1–2: three quarters old food, one quarter new.
2. Days 3–4: half and half.
3. Days 5–6: one quarter old, three quarters new.
4. Day 7: new food only.

If the stools become soft, slow down and stay at the previous step for a few more days. If diarrhoea lasts more than a day or your kitten seems unwell, call your vet. Kittens dehydrate faster than adult cats.

What not to give

• Cow's milk. Most cats lose the ability to digest lactose after weaning. Milk often means an upset stomach. Water is all a kitten needs to drink.
• Food from your plate. Onions, garlic, chocolate, grapes and raisins are toxic to cats, and salty or fatty leftovers are not good for them either.
• Too many treats. Treats should stay a small part of the day's food, or they replace the meals that carry the nutrients.

When to move to adult food

Most cats are ready for adult food at around 12 months, when growth slows down. Large breeds such as Maine Coons keep growing longer and can stay on kitten food a little longer. Your vet can tell you at the first-year check-up.

When the time comes, change over the same way: slowly, over about a week.

In short

1. Start with the food your kitten already knows, and keep it for the first week.
2. Use complete food made for kittens or for all life stages.
3. Four small meals a day at first, fewer as your kitten grows.
4. Kibble as the base, wet food for water and variety.
5. Change food over a week, skip the milk, and move to adult food around 12 months.

Your kitten will grow up fast. It will also, at some point, decide that the food it loved last month is now beneath it. That part is not a phase. That is a cat.